Shattered Soul?: Five Pathways to Healing the Spirit after Abuse and Trauma

Abuse and trauma damage more than body and mind. The soul can also feel wounded. Shame and feelings of abandonment distort and limit one's ability to relate to a faith community and to trust in God. Experiences of abuse can block a person's capacity to pray and worship, and stunt spiritual growth. Shattered Soul? reveals five pathways of healing for survivors of abuse and guides readers to wholeness, to experience life and faith anew. Included are inspiring stories of survivors who reflect on pathways of courage, holy anger, grief, forgiveness, and transformation. Your spirit will feel whole again!

Patrick Fleming is a psychotherapist and personal coach specializing in the treatment of abuse and trauma, sexual addiction and compulsivity, couples counseling, and the integration of spirituality and psychology. Shattered Soul?: Five Pathways to Healing the Spirit After Abuse and Trauma is his second book. Previously, Fleming co-authored Broken Trust: Stories of Pain, Hope, and Healing from Clerical Abuse Survivors and Abusers. He has been a parish priest, a hospital chaplain, workshop presenter, a hospice counselor and a psychotherapist for twenty-seven years, and lives in St. Louis, MO with his wife and co-author Sue.

Sue Lauber-Fleming is a psychotherapist and personal coach specializing in working with survivors of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. She has been a mental health nurse, hospital chaplain, and workshop presenter. Shattered Soul? is her second book. Previously, Lauber-Fleming co-authored Broken Trust. She has raised five wonderful children and is the proud grandmother of ten, and great-grandmother of two. She lives in St. Louis, MO with her husband and co-author Pat.

Vicki S. Schmidt has been involved in missionary outreach work since her early teens. Since 1999, she has served as Executive Director of Theresians International, a global Catholic women s organization founded in 1961 in Pueblo, Colorado. Schmidt lives in Springfield, Illinois.